


Claws

by Blue_Hood



Series: Power Prompts [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, Gen, Howard Stark's Good Parenting, Minor Character(s), Mutant Powers, Mutant Tony Stark, Mutants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27211780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Based on Chapter 25 of What Superpowers Should Tony Stark Have?What if Logan and Victor were mutant Adams? What if Tony Stark had a mix of both their powers? How would the world be changed by that?
Relationships: Edwin Jarvis & Tony Stark, Howard Stark/Maria Stark, Tony Stark & Ho Yinsen
Series: Power Prompts [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986601
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39





	1. Iron Man 1

Tony was wild, on that everyone could agree but they didn't know the half of it. When he woke up in a cave in Afghanistan, his chest hurt and wasn't that a strange feeling? He'd never gotten sick since he was little, way back when his claws grew in. He got really sick then, his parents actually thought he was gonna die and that got them to focus their attention on him. All he could remember was flashes, when he thinks back to the first time he used his gifts. His father actually seemed proud, mildly disturbed (maybe more than mildly) but proud nonetheless. He was quite protective over him, not wanting a lot of tests done in case his quick healing had its limits or in case he lost control again. His mother was a different story, she became distant, putting up the façade of a caring and close mother-son relationship for the public, the kind of relationship they lost when he grew claws. Edwin Jarvis was the worst and the best, he wanted Tony to act normal for his own good but he didn't give the impression he hated Tony, just that he would probably never fully adjust to Young Sir being so wild. Which was fair, before he grew claws, he was pretty withdrawn, having almost given up on getting his father's attention, forget his approval. The craziest 'test' Howard ran on him was setting him loose on his liquor cabinet after Tony was unaffected by champagne at a party, 12% alcohol content compared to beer's 5% made liquor a more appropriate testing device. If Tony went through the whole cabinet in one night trying to get and stay drunk, thus leaving Howard without an ounce of alcohol in the house, then that was just ironic.

Focusing, he asked Yinsen "What the hell did you do to me?" He couldn't get drunk so he couldn't really forget but he did like playing the drunk because it lowered people's expectations, letting him get away with a lot more. Thanks Jarvis for all those lessons on acting normal.

"What I did? What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum." Tony ripped the magnet out and stuck his hand in, Yinsen said "You shouldn't do that."

Ignoring the doctor, Tony just started pulling pieces of metal out, his hand as bloody as the metal. When the shrapnel finally reached his heart, he groaned in pain but continued pulling pieces out before collapsing back on the bed, using his clean hand to cover the whole in his chest. Bloody hand at his side, he moved that arm to draw the doctor's attention to it then let his claws start to come out, just enough for Yinsen to see but not for the camera to catch it. Men rush in and Tony groaned, he was really hoping he could do this without a hole in his chest but needs must. He zipped up his jacket and kept one hand over his wound as he moved fast, slitting the throats of all the insurgents and slamming the door shut, "Let's barricade this, I need a minute." He shot the camera, flinching and wincing at the loud noise. He couldn't waste energy tempering his senses when there was a hole in his chest, he understood that. The shouting nearly sent him into a frenzy, he understood that too. Yinsen was helpful enough with the barricading; if he was a mutant, his mutation was probably in his head, not the useful kind for a situation like this. Tony carefully unzipped the jacket, hissing in pain as he had to tear some skin off that was starting to grow back. They sat there for a while. Tony propped against the barricaded door, waiting for the hole in his chest to heal. Yinsen, holding a gun, watching him, wondering who is this man because he is not the Tony Stark that the world knows. Finally, neither of them could take the heavy silence, Tony said "Ask what you're dying to ask."

"What are you? Sorry-"

"Mutant, if I had to guess. I never really looked into it but I almost died when I was like twelve and now," he waved to his chest, which was to the point of visibly healing. "My mother called it a miracle but she never liked the other part of it. If I hadn't killed those guys, if they kept yelling, I would've gone into a frenzy. Berserker rage, my father used to call it, that's the part nobody who knows what I can do likes. In such a state, I'm more likely to either hurt people who aren't the enemy or lose sight of those people, fail to protect them because I'm too focused on protecting me and taking out the threats to me. And I'm, y'know, pissed beyond reason, hence my father's name for it. Only happened once, when my claws first grew in, but once was enough. My father was mildly disturbed and he was the most accepting of the three people I considered family. Mom, like I said, she considered my survival a miracle but she didn't like the other part of the miracle. Jarvis, he was like a father to me before I got sick and my actual father stepped up, he could never accept it but that was the extent of his problem with it. He was the one who taught me to hide what I am, to pretend to be normal for my own good. Dad actually sat us down, me and Jarvis, and had us talk through it. He couldn't get mom to come to that talk but we cleared the air. I knew what her problem was anyway, she saw me in a berserker rage. I don't remember it, that's the part of a frenzy that scares me, but even my dad said I fought like I was possessed and he was never religious. She didn't hate me, none of them did, but acceptance was just not in the cards. It isn't for a lot of people. Jarvis helped me figure out what normal looked like, I can't get drunk but other people can and when they're drunk, you must lower your expectations of them. Little did he know how much I'd use the lowering expectations thing to my advantage. Dad wasn't one for tests, he didn't want me to think that anyone had any more rights to me because I'm not 100% human than they had a right to him or any other human but when something came up, like the drinking thing, sometimes neither of us could resist. I emptied his liquor cabinet after a few glasses of champagne did nothing to me because we wanted to see if I had a high tolerance or a total immunity, the answer is somewhere in the middle. It takes a lot to get me buzzed but I don't stay drunk for more than maybe a handful of minutes."

"Incredible. What all can you do? I mean, what is your mutation exactly?"

"I heal fast, I think my aging might be a bit fucked up but I doubt I'm immortal. Way dad and I figure it, my healing factor burns the alcohol out of my system, treats it sort of like poison. I'm fast and strong, like a super soldier. My senses are enhanced, that's why the yelling almost set me off. I can hear your heartbeat, smell the chemicals your brain releases when you lie and the chemical shifts, pheromones for lack of a better word, associated with different emotions. I could, in theory, use my senses to track someone down. With the hole in my chest," He held up a hand and reassured, "You didn't know the surgery was unnecessary," then continued "With the hole in my chest, I couldn't waste energy trying to regulate my hearing. If we think of mutations as adapt to survive, the reason for mutant senses becomes clear. I couldn't shut it off, I still can't. Technically, my powers never turn off but I won't even be able to think about filtering the noise down to normal levels until we're safe. Only my friends know what I am and I'm very careful about who I tell. When my dad took meetings at home, I told him what people weren't trustworthy. Sometimes he'd refuse to do business with them, sometimes he'd have to make do anyway. I don't tell colleagues what I am. My PA and my bodyguard know but they're also friends, the military definitely doesn't know but Colonel James Rhodes does because he's my best friend. We met in college, he was my roommate, a pretty obvious move by the military to get close to the Stark heir. Alright, those three people are the only ones who know. Well, them and now you. I usually avoid doctors for obvious reasons."

"I understand. Your chest seems almost healed."

Tony looked down, "Breathing definitely got easier and I can safely assume our captors don't know how I took out their comrades. They're scared and confused, it's permeable even if I can't understand what they're saying." Tony pushed himself to his feet and took an insurgent's shirt, "Best not let them get proof of what I am. Ready to go?" Yinsen stood and nodded. With one single shove, Tony cleared the barricade then he ripped the door off its hinges, "Grab another gun, a spare just to be safe, aim for the cameras not me." They cleared the base, if you could even call it that, before Tony set one of his bombs to self destruct and stole a vehicle. He'd caught sight of a map of some kind, likely a planning area, and had a pretty good idea of where he was going. They stopped several miles from the base and Tony took one of the radios, switching to a US military frequency "Hello? Anybody there?"

"Who is this?"

"This is Tony Stark, calling to let you know that mountain that just went boom was my doing and you're welcome."

There was silence, probably trying to figure out what the protocol was, before a new voice came over the radio "Do you know where you are?"

"Not really. We're about twenty miles away from the cave base. Hurry, in case this radio is bugged or something."

"Will do."

A convoy came to pick them up and after verifying they were US troops, Tony got Yinsen to trust them. They debriefed an officer on the way to base, perfecting their cover story. Tony decided now was as good a time as any to make some changes. JARVIS helped him nail his untrustworthy colleagues to the wall, sharing information with the authorities that prompted investigations that brought about painful revelations. Tony also shifted SI away from weapons towards technology, getting his scientists focused on perfecting the Arc Reactor and flooding the market with a bunch of his projects that Obie had said were a waste of time, driving home the point that they were a weapons company. Their stocks dipped before skyrocketing, people loved SI tech. Added to the press release showing that they did not have to let go of a single employee to get where they wanted to go, SI was better off now than it'd ever been.


	2. Wolverine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krafter2014 wanted Tony meets the Howlett Family

Tony was nervous, he was almost never nervous but then again, he didn't make a habit of meeting his ancestors. Research into the X-gene proved that fathers carried it and passed it on. Upon hearing this, Tony found the research that said this and found out the researchers were still researching mutant genetics (there was always a chance that they lost funding and had to break up the proverbial band) and made a suggestion. Run their subjects' ancestry, look at the big picture instead of focusing on the here and now. They kept their discovery quiet, needing more information before they publish, but they let Tony know what they found. Apparently, genealogy pointed to one or two men, possibly ageless men, procreating over the course of roughly two hundred years. They didn't want to be made a laughingstock for suggesting two men were responsible for the birth of an entire species so they were searching for the man or men in question. Tony asked for a rough DNA work up and a list of aliases, saying he'd help them find records of the men while reminding them that they not only needed to find them, they also needed permission from at least one of them before they could publish. Proving they exist is not enough, they cannot force these men into the limelight. That tempered the researchers' excitement and they agreed. The lead researcher called to schedule an appointment with Tony less than a week later, Tony made an opening. The lead scientist told him the day they had all dreaded had finally come, funding was being cut from their project. Tony asked to see their contracts and finding no non-complete clause, he offered to take over the project on behalf of SI. After all, they needed to make sure that mutant identification was done properly, if it had to be done. Tony came up with a list of excuses, which he passed onto Pepper when he promoted her to CEO at the end of her PA contract, taking a step back to run R&D. She was qualified, she had the degree and experience to get the job done.

Now, Tony had identified both men as James Howlett (possibly Junior) and Victor Creed. Creed was a vicious wanted fugitive and Howlett was living off one of his aliases, although JARVIS' deep dive suggested the possibility of amnesia. Deciding to say screw it, Tony had JARVIS gather as much information on Howlett as possible and put it in a portfolio for the man, possibly his ancestor, to go over later. Researchers were still trying to determine if the number of generations removed a person was from one of the fathers of mutantkind affected the kind of powers they manifested. Are more powerful mutants just more closely related to Howlett and/or Creed? Was someone like Magneto just their grandson while mutants with weak powers had ten generations between them? How come their immediate offspring were so often human? Were they really human or did they just hide their mutant status better? Even as the researchers asked themselves the last question, they didn't realize their backer was a mutant.

Happy let Logan bypass security to avoid his metal claws sending them into lockdown but the trade-off for that was the man's insistence on escorting Logan up personally. Probably a good idea, even though Tony doubted his bodyguard turned head of security was any less killable than the next boxer. Logan arrived less than one minute late which was incredible given city traffic. Tony had moved operations to New York, his operation at least, because of the higher mutant population. He'd discovered M Town in his research and wanted to be closer to his people, even if he couldn't do much more than buy up buildings and bring them to code as a philanthropic endeavor, maybe make a few speeches about how the city failed its people. Shaking his head to clear it, he said "JARVIS privacy mode."

"Engaged," the AI responded.

Tony nodded to Happy who drew his gun and fired three shots at his former boss's chest. Logan watched as the wounds healed in minutes before grinning "Was wondering what this was about?"

"Oh, to be clear, this isn't about me being a mutant. I already got that under control, I just figured you'd want to know why I care and assumed you could smell lies like I can so I wanted to get that out of the way. What I actually invited you over to talk about was this?" Tony had a tablet in his hands and he pulled up the oversimplified version of the Adam Project findings. They had to give it a name that would go over well with the public and the story of Adam and Eve was widely known, even by people who aren't religious, much less Christian so that's what they went with. Offering the tablet to his guest, he said "That's the press release. If you know a geneticist you can trust, I'll give you the full version."

Logan read through the document "You think I'm Adam."

"I think you're Adam 2 if I'm being totally honest, I think Sabretooth is Adam 1. Did the press release not mention we suspect there's two mutant sires?"

"It did. What do you want from me? Seems like you're all set to publish."

"The press release, sure. My researchers want permission to name you. Science doesn't hold water unless it can be corroborated. Without one of our Adams, we look a bit crazy." He quickly assured, "I read about Weapon X, what my researchers want isn't like that. We just need you to sign some papers saying we can use your name in our report. Obviously there's a risk in giving up your identity like that but I'm sure you can figure out the pros and cons of this decision. I haven't told my researchers that I found either Adam. I'll give you as much time as you need to think it through. Here, just give me that for a second." He took the tablet back and with JARVIS' help, downloaded the portfolio, "Do you have a geneticist to verify our research?"

"I might."

"Okay, I'll include that and change the protocols." A few minutes later, he handed it back "Yours to keep but fair warning, I left an interface for JARVIS. It'd take a lot of work to remove him from that tablet and while he's connected, our research files can be updated in real time."

"Alright. My geneticist's name is Charles Xavier."

"The man who coined the term mutant, great. Any questions while you're here?"

"You're a mutant, so according to your research, we're related, right?"

"I am your descendant if we got our Adams straight. I'm not your son, there's a few generations between us but yes, we're related."

"Did your researchers find a connection between Adams 1 and 2?"

"I don't know if they were mine at the time, I picked up this project after they got their funding cut. We're not sure, to answer your question. You have to remember, we identified you and Creed based on your descendants, we only have a rough genetic profile that shows you're not the same person. I suppose I could, maybe, give them Weapon X's research, I'm not sure about the legality there. Fair warning, a lot of the stuff in your portfolio was not gained legally."

"Portfolio?"

"I gave you a copy of everything I found on you, all your records and the ancestry reports that show you're a mutant Adam, all of it."

"Tony," scolded Happy.

"You didn't have to stay here after you shot me and besides, nobody's going to arrest me for it. Which is worse, human experimentation, specifically on children, or hacking some servers and copying files with no intention to publish?"

"Experimenting on kids, of course."

"Weapon X experimented on quite a few little kids, their experiments actually explain why mutations manifest during puberty. Adolescents were more adaptable, more of them survived than the adult felons or little kids. They won't come after me because I'm a public figure and they don't want their secrets getting out. They won't go after you because A, they have no way of knowing you know and B, your only connection is through me. I can't imagine they'd be very successful at keeping secrets if they ticked me off like that."

"Right."

Tony turned back to Logan, who'd silently observed his interaction with the man who shot him, "Let me know what you decide. If you have any questions about the portfolio, call me, you might get JARVIS and he knows more than I do. Alright?"

"Yeah, sure." They shook hands and Happy escorted Logan out.


	3. X-23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a rescue, this chapter shares a prompt with the last one which asked for Tony meeting the Howlett family. I'm considering three more after this, depending on if I count Creed or not, which is dependent on how you, my readers, see Sabretooth.

Logan wound up giving a DNA sample, a cheek swab, when he signed the papers to let them use his birth name, James Howlett Junior, for their report. Tony also set him up with a new legal identity. Really he just flipped the name Wolverine had been using when he enlisted for 'Nam, making him Logan James instead of James Logan because he went by Logan and people usually addressed other people by their first name. Charles and Jean asked students to donate DNA samples to add to the staff samples that they intended to turn over to the research team. Charles was impressed by what they'd managed without much cooperation on the part of mutants and requested a meeting. If he wasn't paralyzed from the waist down, he would've jumped a foot out of his chair when JARVIS confirmed the appointment via Logan's tablet. "Sorry 'bout that."

By the time the three of them- the research team wanted to ask Logan some questions since he was one of their Adams- went to Stark Tower, the closet mutant had made a startling discovery and had the trio diverted to see him in his office first. Engaging privacy mode once again, he simply turned his desktop screen around rather than verbally explain. "X-23?" Logan read the rest silently before latent paternal instincts kicked in. Tony stuck out his hand and extended his claws, which had the surprising effect of calming Logan down.

"You're a mutant?" said Jean.

"Basically a blend of Logan and Creed, except my aging didn't stop once I hit maturity."

"What are we supposed to do with this?" asked Logan, referring to X-23.

"I dunno. If I knew, I'd already be doing something. There is one thing to note though, before you go thinking of her only as a clone. Well, a few things technically, but they're all related. Clones are exact copies of their genetic donors. This girl isn't even the same ethnicity, oh wait." He scrolled down to a picture, which was a bit awkward with the screen turned, "The whole file has been sent to your tablet. From what I can tell, the number 23 is, well, just that a number. She is the 23rd clone but the first success. Someone bridged your DNA with another donor, according to the file. The doctor in charge is listed as Sara Kinney and before you go off on her, video evidence suggests she's the only one in the whole program who remembers X-23 isn't an object, that she's alive. Unfortunately, for us, X-23 is the only name I can find for her but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd call Dr. Kinney her mother. We're still working through the data, trying to backtrack and find any relevant files that weren't linked into hers. The only reason we were able to find X-23 is because you gave DNA to my research team and JARVIS was updating your tablet when he noticed an anomaly in the files. By the way, it's looking like you might be related to Creed but without a sample from him, we can't be sure. I approved funds for a forensic historian to join the team, they're trying to set up a timeline for mutantkind and explain how you predate your own species by over a hundred years."

"Sir?"

"Yeah, J?"

"Dr. Kinney is en route to the Tower."

"ETA?"

"Less than five minutes."

"Have the receptionist divert her to Happy and let him make the call, up or out."

"Shall I pass on your exact words?"

"To Happy, yes. To the receptionist, be professional."

"Consider it done."

Tony asked his ancestor "Do you want to meet with her alone if Happy brings her up? I can leave privacy mode on, internal surveillance is disabled in privacy mode, just FYI. I can only think of two reasons she'd come here. The research team's initial findings went public this week, meaning she probably knows SI has a connection to you."

"What's the other reason?"

Tony withdrew a scanner from his desk drawer, "This is what the research team was working on before I hijacked the project by suggesting they review subjects' ancestry then took over proper when their funding got cut. Three guesses what it is."

"Some kind of scanner."

"The research team that discovered the X-gene is passed down paternally was working on the scanner. Try again."

"A mutant scanner."

"Ding, ding, ding. I'm an insomniac and when my judgement was impaired by that, I finished it. Yeah, I'd take it apart but it's the code that's dangerous. Right now I'm trying to find a way to alter the target DNA, maybe it can be used to detect genetic diseases before their onset but the problem is, I'm not an expert on genetics. This scanner picks up on the X-gene but it can't differentiate between active and dormant, mutant and carrier. Genetic diseases, as I understand them, can be carried through many generations and require a mix of genes to actually be dangerous, I dunno. Anyone who can figure out cloning can figure out that a team researching mutants likely has a way to identify them and that's powerful to people trying to create mutant weapons."

"Right," drawled Logan.

JARVIS alerted them, "Sir, Mr. Hogan is bringing Dr. Kinney up as we speak. Shall I delay them?"

"Logan?"

"You guys can stay."

"Translation, you might need to be held back. Ya mind if I do most of the talking?"

"No."

Happy brought Sara in. Swiping two chairs from the reception area and setting them down in the back of the office, he gestured for the red haired doctor to take one so they weren't all standing and surrounding the already scared scientist. "Dr. Kinney?" Tony turned the screen back around, drawing attention to it in the process. "Did you know that outside cloning, your odds of having a mutant child are slim to none?"

"So you know."

"Yeah, found out today or yesterday, not sure. When I found out about the weapon, I started a deep dive into your systems, had to make sure there weren't more weapons."

"She's not a weapon!" Sara snapped before taking a shaky breath "If that's what you think then maybe I should go."

"Look, I can't find any records for the kid that don't call her a weapon and I ain't about to use a freaking serial number so give me a name and I'll stop using their words for your daughter. You do consider yourself her mother, right? I can't stop wondering what kind of idiot expects a woman, who is not a professional surrogate, to give birth and not consider the child theirs."

"Xander Rice."

"I know his name, I was asking for your daughter's."

"Laura."

"Please, take a seat, Dr. Kinney." Logan was sitting in one of the two visitor seats at the desk and Charles had rolled his chair around when Sara entered, leaving a seat between them open. "Allow me to formally introduce you to the father of your child, James Howlett Junior, although for very obvious reasons, he hasn't used that name in a long time. Right now, he's going by Logan James. Somehow he keeps the name James in almost all of his aliases. To your right is Professor Charles Xavier and behind you is Dr. Jean Grey, they're experts in the field of mutant genetics and they're here to consult with my research team." Tony locked eyes with Happy, who gave a quick nod. "Everyone in this room except you is a mutant. Privacy mode's been engaged since Logan came in so internal surveillance is disengaged at the moment."

"You're a mutant?"

"Funny, I thought you might ask what Mr. Hogan's mutation is. That is, after all, the reason you're not in federal custody right now answering questions about your illegal human experimentation."

"What?"

"I have friends everywhere but that's mostly unrelated to my mutation, actually, scratch that, my mutation and my connections are totally unrelated. Now, why are you here, Dr. Kinney?"

"I'm here because Laura is not a weapon and I thought you might be able to get her out before," she suddenly stopped, a look of horror on her face.

"Before what, Dr. Kinney?"

Sara hung her head, "Before she undergoes the process to forcibly bond Adamantium to her bones. I just realized I might have once again been played and that they might be doing that as we speak."

"JARVIS?"

"X-23, or rather, Laura is currently in a sensory deprivation cell and scheduled to remain in isolation for 12 hours, minimum."

"Does she have powers yet?"

"Yes, sir. The result of radiation poisoning several months ago," answered JARVIS and Kinney was a little surprised by how much emotion the AI expressed.

"Damnit, that's probably the only way to do it."

"Excuse me," began Jean.

"Logan's over a hundred years old, he probably didn't suffer that as a child." Tony sighed, "I get you're used to being around only mutants but in case you missed it, you just outed my mutation." He turned to Kinney, showed her his hand and his claws. "Radiation poisoning makes a person deathly ill, right?"

"Yes."

"I haven't told my research team this, they don't know their backer is a mutant, but that seems to be the trigger for this kind of mutation. A mysterious fatal illness kinda makes sense, in the Victorian age. In my case, doctors threw up their hands and blamed my parents' age at the time of my birth. Mom called my survival a miracle, the perfect cover for a mutation." He retracted his claws and asked "J? Can you map the base yet or even locate it?"

"I can do both, Sir."

"Guard rotations, weapons- not counting Laura- got all the logistics figured yet?"

"Yes, Sir," he sounded almost offended "Shall I lay a trap?"

"If they're not gonna force bond metal to her bones anytime soon, best wait until we get close." Tony turned to Sara, "Once we get her out, you're gonna claim parental responsibility. Just in case her training has already includes felonies."

"I'll confess to everything."

"Well, don't do that, not here at least. Happy, can you take her down and call the authorities? Plead ignorance on the base's location, they can't arrest you for turning over a material witness. Dr. Kinney, keep the M word out of that conversation as much as possible."

"Of course." Happy escorted Sara out.

Tony turned to the two geneticists "Why don't you two go meet with the research team while Logan and I go get his daughter?" Jean looked like she was going to object but Charles agreed on both of their behalves. Tony took Logan to the hangar, "Don't ask why I have this, just be glad I do." While JARVIS flew them to the base, Tony stripped off his suit and changed into what looked like workout clothes. Catching his ancestor's look, he said "It's a flight suit for the Iron Man armor, just in case. JARVIS?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Disable the cameras once you've dealt with security and instead of simply scrambling coms, try your hand at impersonation. We don't want Rice to try and deploy Laura."

"Will do, Sir."

The way Tony moved through the base was reminiscent of Sabretooth. JARVIS had given them directions to Laura before they went in and was keeping the staff contained. Tony jumped to land two feet outside a door "Another upside of the flight suit, I can use my full mutation when I'm wearing it. Most fabrics are restrictive, I sorta designed the suit to be flexible to justify the flight suit." 

"This the place?" asked Logan.

"Yeah. Do you want to open or should we ask JARVIS? I think seeing your mutation in action might be reassuring or it might be terrifying if she sees you as Weapon X come to eliminate her."

"Yeah. Open it, JARVIS."

"Kill the lights first." The lights on their path went out as the door slid open.

Logan asked "Why'd you do that?"

Tony hissed in a voice too quiet for humans to hear, "It's a sensory deprivation cell, do you want to blind her? Keep your voice down." Tony led the way in, following a scent that was very similar to Logan's. He waited for the other man to make a move once they were standing in front of the girl, who was curled up in a ball. As Logan picked her up, Tony poked his nose and neck. Logan took the hint, holding Laura so her nose was against his neck as they left. Tony once again dropped to all fours to run outside and raced ahead. Grabbing a still-packaged blanket off the jet and meeting them a few feet inside the base, he opened the package and held it out to his ancestor. With one hand, Logan grabbed the blanket, adjusting his hold so the blanket was between him and Laura. As they neared the exit, he pulled the blanket over her head, despite knowing the barrier wouldn't be enough to block out the sunlight. They boarded the jet and Tony tinted the windows as much as he could. "It's okay, cuz."

"Cuz?"

"Yeah, I'm not calling her my aunt even if she is your daughter and you are my ancestor making her my great times God knows what aunt."

"Why not just stick to Laura?"

"I'd ask if you prefix your cousins' names with cousin but I'm pretty you don't have living cousins that you know of." Tony asked Laura "Do you mind if I use the autopilot or would you be more comfortable seeing me pilot? The autopilot is definitely the better pilot but if you'd prefer, I am capable of flying this thing." Logan coaxed an answer out of her, making it clear she had choices. Turned out, she really was fine with the autopilot.

By the time they landed in the hangar, she was much more comfortable with them. JARVIS had slowly removed the tint from the windows so the lights in the hangar didn't hurt her eyes as much as they might have straight out of the base. Similarly, Logan and Tony slowly raised their voices until they were talking at normal volumes. Laura stayed with Tony in the penthouse, arranging clothes and other things, while Logan went down to answer the research team's questions. Charles and Jean found them there after asking JARVIS a few questions in the elevator, which led to them being brought up with Tony's permission. "Laura, meet Professor Charles Xavier and Dr. Jean Grey. They're both from the school your dad lives and works at, and they're both mutants. Professor Xavier is a telepath and-" he wasn't sure what Jean's power was but the woman herself bailed him out of trouble.

"I'm primarily telekinetic but I'm also slightly telepathic." Not really seeing anything else that was obvious, Jean levitated the coffee table a few feet into the air before setting it down. Then she grinned at Tony, "Nice suit, Dr. Stark."

"Most people forget about my PhDs and you can call me Tony."

"Jean."

Tony told the Professor "I've arranged for a few things to be sent to the school in Logan's name for Laura. Don't let him wreck them or throw them out by mistake. We did catch her before they bonded metal to bone but, JARVIS?"

"Records indicate the possibility of a trigger scent."

Tony told Laura "He can remove any triggers from your mind, if you like. You don't have to agree, he won't do it without your consent, and I think your dad should be present if you do let him do it. You smell a lot like him, I can't imagine our scents are as familiar or comforting as his."

"You can smell like me?"

Tony's eyes widened "Yeah. You, Logan, me and a man named Victor Creed all have very similar powers."

She relaxed back on the couch, "I'll think about it."

"Your mind, your choice, right Professor?"

"Correct."

Logan found them all gathered in the penthouse after he finished with the research team. Tony jumped to his feet "Before you leave, I have something for Laura." He ran to his room and got out an old box, "My dad made these for me when I was about twice Laura's age, right after we realized I had super senses." He set the box down on the coffee table, "I can make something a bit less clunky." The goggles Logan pulled out had ear muffs attached. "I should probably streamline the design. Lord knows how many mutants get enhanced senses as part of their power sets or how many just get enhanced senses period."

Logan looked at Laura, "It's up to you. These will probably block a lot of noise and light."

"They're actually adjustable," Tony pulled out a remote "Dad was like me." The remote had a button with a dial on either side. "It's not pretty but it's much more effective than any noise cancelling headphones or sunglasses on the market." Laura took the device from her dad and put it on, Tony carefully adjusted the strap so the goggles weren't falling off then showed her how to use the remote. "JARVIS, blare a child friendly song at top volume." The need quickly became clear and Laura let out a small whimper before adjusting the sound dampeners. "Turn it off." Tony apologized to Laura, "Sorry, I should've told you that you can make JARVIS stop just by asking. I figure a school is probably loud and I don't want you to go into sensory overload because that is even worse for people like us than people like them," he pointed to Jean and Charles. "You okay?" Laura nodded and tapped the goggles. "They're yours, I don't need 'em anymore. Did you see how I was the only who didn't flinch?" Laura smiled and nodded. Thinking of something else, Tony turned to Charles. "Three thousand."

"What?"

"Three thousand dollar credit for your school if I can use the X-Men as my team to get a government sanction or UN charter for Iron Man activities. That's three grand in tech just for your staff, students, school and alumni."

Jean laughed "Are you trying to bribe us to help you help us?"

"Basically but I'll need the Professor to sign a contract on behalf of your team, which takes away from his anonymity. The contract will be just between us and you can help vet anyone I deal with to get the charter. I mean, you did already give my research team DNA samples so you're anonymity is already in danger since only kids get the legal right to anonymity."

"Right."

Charles held out his hand, "We have a deal."

"Great."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Tony, you really don't get people. Just to be clear, he's using a three thousand dollar credit and contract as an excuse to work on specialized mutant tech. He understands business, he's trying to make this make business sense.


	4. Rhodey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stepping away from the Howlett family just a bit, although in this, all mutants are related. Rhodey and Tony are bros, it still counts.

JARVIS was monitoring the threat posed by the Mandarin, for Colonel Rhodes' sake, when he discovered someone had begun a rather successful hack of the broadcast but that someone was not very good at stealth, nor were they hacking from a government building. In fact, JARVIS immediately alerted Sir when he traced the hack to Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The armor was rocketing towards the school in minutes, Sir having planned to meet up with Colonel Rhodes in the armor and thus already donning his flight suit. They were almost too late, Tony ordered JARVIS "Drop me off on that chopper then take care of the missile, remember to lock the suit's controls."

"Of course, Sir."

Tony caught himself, just barely, on the skid. Climbing to stand, he wrenched the door open and tried to grab the man with the machine gun but he had a machine gun and Tony had to play human so the bullets sent him plummeting to the ground just as Rhodey arrived and engaged in an aerial battle with the helicopter that send the Mandarin's forces fleeing. Tony, being a mutant not a human, hit the ground with a bounce as he spread the impact throughout his body then ran out of sight before someone in the chopper could see he was mostly unharmed. The feeling of cool air on his back told him the bullets went all the way through. Good, Rhodey always got freaked out when he cut into himself to remove debris. After the War Machine armor landed, Tony moved behind his best friend and affected an injured voice "Is your HUD transmitting?"

It might've been his enhanced senses or maybe he just knew Rhodey too well but he could tell the armor was the only thing keeping his best friend from launching into the air at the sound of his voice. Stepping out of the armor, Rhodey turned to face him "No, it's not and I told you it freaks me out when you do that."

"Good thing it's not because I'm betting you saw me get shredded." Tony's voice was back to normal.

"You said you had a lead on the Mandarin."

"The lead is inside. Engage sentry mode and let's go."

Rhodey said "You heard him, JOCASTA."

Inside the school, Tony led him straight to the Professor "Someone here hacked the Mandarin. Any guesses who? I honestly don't know, JARVIS picked up on it when he was trying to trace the signal himself."

Charles said "Just a moment." A few minutes later, a girl came through the door- literally through it- looking meek. "Kitty, why don't you tell Colonel Rhodes and Dr. Stark what you found on your latest expedition?"

"The Mandarin is based in Miami, I got an address." She held out a piece of paper.

Tony took it and asked the Professor "Can I use the tablet?" Charles handed over the tablet with JARVIS and Tony used it to scan the address, "J?"

"The property listed is owned by one Aldrich Killian."

"Uh-oh," said Tony.

Rhodey asked "What did you do, Tones?"

"Bern late 1999, early 2000. A man named Aldrich Killian approached me about his company, the Advanced Idea Mechanics, during a party. There was this woman, Dr. Maya Hansen, who wanted my help stabilizing something she created called Extremis. She had a few plants in her room, apparently test subjects for Extremis, Happy kind of pulled at one of the leaves and the plant kind of exploded. Anyway, back to Killian, I told him I'd meet him on the roof while playing drunk playboy. Obviously, I never went up there and now here we are."

"Tony, who else did you meet in Bern?"

"Nobody!" Tony said "I also blew off Yinsen and Wu but they didn't go and become terrorists."

Rhodey took a deep breath, "Right, right. What else do we know?"

"Extremis was designed to improve healing," said Tony, "But the unstable Extremis in the plants made them go boom. I'm thinking Killian recruited Hansen to AIM and our bombs are just people with Extremis."

"Tony, what did you do?"

"About Extremis?"

"Yeah."

"I left Hansen with an equation that could fix the bugs." Tony held up his hands "She was testing it on plants, I doubt she made the jump to human trials." The inventor snapped his fingers "I just remembered, Killian was disabled in Bern. Limp, stutter, some things a normal person can't pick up on, bit of a Steve Rogers type deal."

"That makes sense," said Rhodes. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"We're getting further than the Air Force sending you to the Middle East to chase a guy in Miami."

"Tony-"

JARVIS interrupted "I have confirmed our young friend's findings and altered the records in AIM's systems. They now indicate that the hack originated from the NSA. I have also notified the proper authorities of this new development, they are standing by to assist you, Colonel Rhodes."

"Send the data to JOCASTA, include the briefing you sent the authorities so I know exactly what they know. Tony?"

"I'm coming with you."

"You might want to change your shirt-"

"The Mandarin sent a missile at me and I'm not planning on leaving the suit."

"Didn't the suit-"

"I have more than one, Rhodey."

"Right. Let's go." Rhodey stopped to speak with the girl "Thank you for your help but for future reference, don't hack terrorists."

Tony asked the Professor "What if I gave her a copy of your tablet? Free of charge, won't hurt your credit but an AI could cover her tracks and guide her away from more dangerous hacks. I already got one ready. Learning AIs need to be activated to learn and be effective when needed." Seeing his best friend waiting impatiently at the door, Tony said "We'll talk more later. Just cut the kid some slack, she might've saved the day."

In the air, Rhodey asked "What was that about credit?"

"The X-Men get an annual three thousand dollar credit from SI, most of that credit goes to the school. It's a school for mutants so they support it and let Xavier act as their representative in legal matters to maintain anonymity. Some of the money goes to youth centers that have special mutant programs, which I guess Xavier alumni often volunteer at and even run those programs. The credit entitles them to special order stuff that won't go public, like the goggles dad made me. I give it to them at cost, deducting from the credit and if SI can market it in some way, I might partly reimburse them for it by adding back to the credit. I had legal work up the contract on the basis of special needs equipment instead of mutant tech. The government is enjoying more accountability from mutants and the X-Men are enjoying the freedom to demand accountability from the government, they're finally able to check each other a bit."

"I heard something about that. You think mutant rights are on the horizon?"

"The X-Men are starting to be regarded as a real team of gifted individuals, we're a few steps up from viewing Magneto as the poster child for mutant-kind. I wouldn't be surprised if the government or the UN comes up with some kind of official, public document sanctioning them. If the UN does it then mutant rights are implied and assured because they'd be recognizing mutants as people and the UN's a big name in the human rights game. All in all, I dunno, Rhodey. I don't think you'll see the day when saying mutant and proud will be applauded but we might be seeing the end of an era where saying that is dangerous. Maybe someday, mutant-kind will have enough presence and clout that a soldier won't be court martialed or worse for admitting they're a mutant and maybe you'll even see that day come to pass. I dunno."

"Dare to dream."

"That's relatively safe now." Rhodey laughed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Name a Howlett, win a prize. I can only think of Daken and all I know is that he exists and he's Wolverine's son, I have an idea of where his claws are but that's about it. If anyone knows Daken, give me a rundown in the comments.
> 
> We need to settle the eternal Wolverine question: what's his connection to Sabretooth? I've heard Sabretooth was originally intended to be his father then in the X-Men Origins movie they were half-brothers (I really wish Marvel had gotten their act together and made the Gambit movie, now it's never gonna happen). I've also heard Wolverine was, at one time, purported to be an actual wolverine that was mutated into looking human like. What do you guys think?


	5. Victor Creed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last of the Howlett family chapters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had trouble thinking of a way for Tony Stark to meet Victor Creed after Logan and Laura and the Adam Theory but then inspiration struck as I realized they didn't have to meet for the first time after Tony met the other members of the family.

Tony went to the school when he finally ironed out the kinks with legal about getting a waiver Victor Creed could sign without getting arrested for his trouble. He had an interesting relationship with Sabretooth. He had gotten into a fight with the other mutant when he was little, before he had full control over his mutation. Tony had the weirdest feeling that Victor viewed him almost like a cub or something but he was positive that Howard Stark was his father.

Getting Creed’s DNA would confirm a distant relationship to both Adams, eliminating the slight possibility that the feline mutant had a reason to see the inventor as his own cub. His scientists already had Logan’s DNA, they would have told him if any of the other DNA samples seemed to be closely connected to one of the Adams. Victor’s son would be Logan’s nephew and vice versa. Tony didn’t know much about genetics but he was reasonably sure that the child of a half-sibling would not be mistaken for a distant descendant. Tony was curious about the variation between mutations if they all resulted from the same gene passed down from one of two men who had very similar mutations. If you took away Creed’s fangs then on paper, the brothers had the same mutations which was nothing like telepathy.

Even though Tony was almost positive that Victor Creed was not at the school, he decided to start there so that he could invite Laura and Logan to join him. His offer was met with suspicion from both Logan and Scott Summers, the latter of whom decided that Victor Creed being involved made the whole thing an X-Men matter. “What part of Logan’t brother are you not getting?”

“The part where you think you know him well enough to get him to just sit still so you can take some blood and sign a waiver,” answered Jean.

“Oh, that. Why didn’t you just say so in the first place? You’ve wasted a lot of time.” Tony explained “Not long after I manifested, some interested parties decided to take a closer look at what my parents were calling a miracle. One of those parties actually managed to kidnap me despite my enhanced senses and healing factor. I panicked, went into what I call a frenzy but my father called a berserker rage and tried to kill everyone. Victor was there, we fought for a bit. When my mind cleared, we were still tearing into each other and I started cracking jokes. Our fight wound down once he started laughing at the jokes and not me. We actually talked for a bit before he had to bail. Not two minutes after he left, two of my dad’s friends arrived. Dad was friends with the original Avengers, he convinced them to leave SHIELD and in return, they kept an eye on me. His friends got me out of there before calling the proper authorities. Since Victor Creed actually was there, it wasn’t hard for law enforcement to decide he had killed all those people. Hell, for all I know he did kill his fair share. Anyway, Victor and I have had a few more encounters over the years. Since our powers are similar, I’ve been able to help him out a time or two by making it look like he was in two places at once so he could turn the tables on people hunting him. I never ask for details. I think that if I can find him then we’ll probably fall back into our usual pattern. We fight, I tell jokes, he laughs then we talk. Getting him to sign a paper and give blood won’t be too hard for me, I’ve gotten him to tell me things that wound up serving as actionable intelligence. Getting him to sign a paper and give blood at the Tower where my scientists will try to ask him all kinds of questions, that’s not going to happen.” Tony turned to Logan “I only came here to ask if you wanted to join me when I go looking for him. Maybe he’ll be willing to answer some of your questions. Not sure why Scott felt you talking to your brother was X-Men business, seems kinda personal, don’t ya think?”

“Yeah.” Logan asked “How can we be sure Transigen won’t come after Laura?”

“For one thing, Transigen got shut down for its connections with terrorists. For another, what’s Transigen gonna do against three or four of us? It’s your choice, Logan. You can choose not to tag along or to leave Laura here while you do just to be safe. This place is guarded by the world’s most powerful telepath, among others. What’s Transigen gonna do against that? Not to mention, the students still struggling with control are likely to lose what little control they have if men in tactical gear storm the place. It’s totally up to you. If you don’t want to tag along then maybe I could suggest Victor meets you somewhere else later.”

“I think I’ll take the last option.”

“Not really keen on leaving Laura behind or taking her with you, I get it, sort of. As far as either of us know, Laura’s your only living child right now. Even if Adam Theory is right, that just means you’ve lost a lot of people to time.” Tony caught himself a moment too late, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. How are you going to take the blood? A syringe would get destroyed in a fight.”

“I have an injector, designed for use by orderlies so they can administer sedatives without having to fully restrain someone and risk hurting themselves. Stark Medical is still working out what kind of sedatives could be used before we start trials but the withdrawal feature is all good to go.” He picked his bag up and pulled out the almost gun-like injector, “I could drop this thing from the roof of Stark Tower onto the balcony and it’d still work. I designed it to be as durable as possible without compromising function. I have a few vials I can try if one of them gets broke. Papers are in here too.” He put the injector back and zipped up his bag. “JARVIS has been searching for Creed since I got the greenlight from Legal. At the very least, he’ll be able to give me a starting point and a timeframe, which is all I need. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even get to skip the fight part of our little routine.”

Victor was not in the mood to skip the fight but Tony could tell that from a distance and stashed his bag before finishing his approach. Their routine persisted with Victor letting Tony take his blood and signing the waiver before running off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter turned out kind of short. In my first few drafts Tony wound up kinda ranting about his relationship with his father and his father's relationship with SHIELD. It was pretty good stuff, just not when he's being asked about Victor Creed. The final draft turned out short but stayed on track for the most part.  
> In case it's not clear, I realize it might not be in this draft, Victor sees Logan as something of a rival while he views Tony as more of a cub, having met when the latter was actually a kid, which is why he's willing to indulge the man from time to time.
> 
> Lemme know what you think.


End file.
